<p>&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;An Introduction to Hypnosis Society of Psychological Hypnosis Division 30 American Psychological Association 1 An Introduction to Hypnosis I.What is Hypnosis ? II.Common Myths about Hypnosis III. Theories of Hypnotic Responding IV.Key Theoretical Controversies in Hypnosis IV.Hypnotic Suggestibility VI.Hypnosis as a Clinical Tool 2 I. What is Hypnosis ? A. Defining Hypnosis B. Components of a Hypnotic Procedure 3 A. Defining Hypnosis ?Hypnosis is a procedure involving cognitive processes (like imagination) in which a subject is guided by a hypnotist to respond to suggestions for changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. ?Sometimes, people are trained in self-hypnosis, in which they learn to guide themselves through a hypnotic procedure. ?Psychologists hold a wide variety of opinions on how to define hypnosis and on how hypnosis works. 4 B. Two Components of a Hypnotic Procedure ?It is useful to think of a hypnotic procedure as consisting of two phases or components: ?Hypnotic Induction ?Hypnotic Suggestions 5 What is a Hypnotic Induction ? ?An introduction to hypnosis in which the subject is guided through suggestion to relax, concentrate, and/or to focus his or her attention on some particular thing. ?Some hypnotists believe the purpose of the induction is to induce an altered state of consciousness. ?Other hypnotists believe the induction is a social cue that prompts the subject to engage in hypnotic behaviors. 6 What is a Hypnotic Suggestion ? ?The subject is guided to undergo changes in experience. ?Types of Hypnotic Suggestions: ?Ideomotor Suggestions experience a motor movement. ?Challenge Suggestions subject is told he or she will not be able to do some particular thing and then is asked to perform the prohibited behavior. ?Cognitive Suggestions experience changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts or feelings. 7 II. Common Myths about Hypnosis ?People in hypnosis lose control and can be made to say or do whatever the hypnotist wants. ?People may not be able to come out of hypnosis. ?Hypnosis only affects weak-willed or gullible people. ?Hypnosis reliably enhances the accuracy of memory. ?Hypnosis enables people to re-experience a past life. ?Hypnosis depends primarily on the skill of the hypnotist. ?NONE OF THESE ARE TRUE 8 III. Important Theories of Hypnotic Responding ?Psychoanalytic Approach ?Neodissociation Approach ?Socio-Cognitive Approach ?Transpersonal Approach 9 A. Psychoanalytic Approach: Freuds Model of Hypnosis ?Freud initially utilized hypnosis to help remove psychosomatic symptoms from patients who suffered from what we would now call a somatoform disorder. These patients suffered from medical complaints like seizures, muscular spasms, and paralysis of their limbs that was transient and/or was not thought to be the entirely the result of a general medical condition. ?Freud learned that he could temporarily or permanently reduce many of these symptoms using direct hypnotic suggestions for the symptoms to be reversed. (e.g.,: “Your arm is calm again and will no longer spasm.”) ?Freud also believed that Hypnosis allowed him access to memories within the patients unconscious mind which had been previously repressed. ?Eventually, Freud began using free association instead of hypnosis as a way of accessing the unconscious. 10 B. The Neodissociation Approach ?A more recent psychoanalytically-oriented theory. ?Developed by Ernest Hilgard. ?Under hypnosis, part of the mind enters an altered state of consciousness. ?A second dissociated part of the mind, later designated as the “Hidden Observer”, remains aware of what is going on during a hypnotic session. ?The part of the mind in an altered state of consciousness is very open to hypnotic suggestions. 11 B. Neodissociation ?The Hidden Observer Experiments ?Discovered in highly hypnotizable subjects during dissociative tasks such as hypnotic deafness and hypnotic pain analgesia. ?If queried, some subjects could nevertheless give realistic accounts of the dissociated experience as if a hidden observer was present within the person. 12 B. Neodissociation ?Hilgards Neodissociation theory ?These dissociations were evidence of separate cognitive subsystems that were operating during the experiment. ? “The concept of a totally unified consciousness is an attractive one, but does not hold up under examination.” ?Ernest R. Hilgard (1994) 13 A Sociocognitive take on Neodissociation ?The hidden observer is created and enacted by the subject in response to the hypnotic instructions given by the experimenter. (Spanos &amp;amp;amp; Burgess, 1994) ?The self or “identity is constructed, role- governed, and performed” (Lynn et al., 1994) as a kind of “narrative process” in which we come to construct our experience as that identity as a “believed-in imagining” (Sarbin, 1998). 14 C. The Sociocognitive Approach ?Contends that the principles of social psychology explain behavior during hypnosis. ?Not a single theory, but a group of theo&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;</p>